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‘By the grace of God:’ Flagler Beach restaurant employees perform life-saving measures on customer

Flagler County fire officials say man is OK

FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – Two Flagler Beach restaurant employees were in the right place at the right time to help a customer who was found unresponsive at the bar.

Stephanie Raffo said she had just started her shift at The Anchor Restaurant in Flagler Beach on Wednesday when a man in, ordered a beer and sat at the bar.

Moments later she said she saw him slumped over in his seat. She said he was unresponsive.

“That’s when I came around the corner, I saw him slumped over like on the barstools and what not and I knew right away that something was wrong,” Raffo said.

Surveillance video from inside the restaurant shows Raffo and her coworker jumping into action.

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“That’s when we started to try and find a pulse,” Raffo said.

Raffo said she called 911 for help. She and her coworker moved the man onto the ground so they could perform lifesaving measures.

“After I got off the phone with them, we started doing compressions and rescue breathing and eventually we got a pulse back,” she said.

Paramedics arrived and took the man to the hospital. Officials with the Flagler County Fire Department said the man is doing OK.

Restaurant owner Sheryl Knopf said she is proud of her employees’ quick actions. She said when every second counts she is glad they were there to get results.

“I think everything, there’s a reason and purpose for every single thing that happens,” Knopf said. “By the grace of God he was in the right spot.”

Raffo said she did what she had to do.

“If that was my family member on the floor, I’d want the person that was helping them out to do everything they could for them and that’s what was going through my mind,” Raffo said.

She adds she hopes she can see him again and pour him another drink on the house.

“I would like that,” Raffo said. “‘Cause that was our main concern was making sure he was just going to live to see the next of his day and have another Miller Light.”


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